“We will lose our electoral jurisprudence if we are not careful” – PO
Comment
As the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi vows to appeal the judgement of the elections trubunal at the supreme court, he is equally weary of Nigeria’s electoral jurisprudence.
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Obi spoke through his team of lawyers led by Dr. Livy Uzoukwu, SAN.
According to the statement, the LP presidential candidate warned that if care was not taken, sound electoral jurisprudence will disappear in the country, stressing that litigants that are dissatisfied with the outcome of an election, may resort to self help, if they continue to find it very difficult to establish their case owing to obstacles from government institutions like the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Obi said, “If we are not careful, our electoral jurisprudence will eventually disappear. I am saying this with every amount of sincerity because when the litigant, when those that contested the election continue to find it very difficult to establish their case due to obstacles on the way, starting by INEC, certainly they may resort to some other means of trying to get justice, which may not be lawful.
“Also, I commend the Court of Appeal for introducing live streaming. You may recall that we applied to the court to have live streaming of all the proceedings, the court, in its wisdom did not grant the application.
“But now, in the end, they saw wisdom in it and the need to guarantee transparency, hence, live streaming of the judgement.
“Certainly, it would have been better if it was live streaming of the entire proceedings so that the public will have the chance of watching and be able to relate properly with the judgement.
“So, I will hope and pray that this time, it will be continuous, starting from the beginning of a case.
“That is the only way that you can guarantee transparency because when something is open, Nigerians will see things for themselves and they will make up their minds, one way or the other,” Mr Obi added.
Obi’s petition challenging president Tinubu’s victory at the 2023 polls was on Wednesday, struck out by the five-man panel of the elections tribunal at its judgement which held at the High Court of Appeal in Abuja.
In a related development, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike, in a recent statement said election petitions are not won on social media.
Wike, was speaking in an interview on a Channels TV’s programme, Politics Today, when he made the statement.
He said election petition is “a special case and not propaganda” adding that he already knew that Obi would not win the case
Wike said, “I have always told people that election petition is not like any other case. It is a special area. It is not by propaganda.
“It is not won on social media. It is a presentation of evidence and facts. Not what you said to your supporters outside.
“I sat down for not less than 10 hours and to look at how the justices painstakingly took each item one by one, from the preliminary objections to the motions, down to the objections on documents and exhibits, down to substantial issues.
“I know that he (Obi) won’t win the election. Let me tell you the truth, I am a realist. For me, the way the election went, it was a tough election. I give it to INEC,” he said.
“Yes, as a young man, people would have preferred that he won but look at how the votes went.
“There is this generational change, the young people were tired. So, for them, the only hope they had was to vote for Obi as a younger person compared to other candidates.
“But unknown to them, that is not the reality of Nigerian politics. They didn’t take into cognisance that ethnicity is a factor. They didn’t take into cognisance that religion is a factor, not only competence; that is the reality of Nigerian politics.”
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